27th MOP will discuss phasing out dangerous greenhouse gases ahead of Paris Climate Change COP21

In a media advisory, the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW), has announced that it would be hosting the 27th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (27th MOP) on November 1-5 at the Conrad Hotel, Dubai, which will be attended by the UAE Minister of Environment and Water, H.E. Dr Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad; the UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner and high-level participants from Australia, France, Maldives, Netherlands, Uruguay, the United States and the World Bank.

The 27th MOP will reportedly comprise a three-day preparatory segment, followed by a high-level segment that will be opened on November 4 by Steiner and Bin Fahad.

The advisory informed that at the meeting, Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, will consider four proposals submitted by 40 countries, to amend the Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

The advisory, highlighting that HFCs are chemicals used in air conditioning, refrigeration, foams and aerosols as replacements for many ozone-depleting substances that are being phased out under the Montreal Protocol, are potent greenhouse gases that contribute to the warming of the climate. It underscored that HFC emissions are growing rapidly, at a rate of about seven per cent per year. If the current mix of HFCs is unchanged, said the advisory, increasing demand could result in HFC emissions of up to 8.8 gigatonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2050. This, according to the MoEW, could potentially offset the climate benefits achieved by the Montreal Protocol, which has averted greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 135 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

MoEW revealed that according to a report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, an HFC phase-down would avoid the equivalent of 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and more than 0.5 degrees C of warming by 2050. It added that this would also bring significant energy-efficiency benefits that past phase-outs have always catalysed, when a refrigerant was changed.